Domination Druid

[iNano78]

This is a control Druid I'm working on for Domination based on my Arena druid.  Uses some cards from Academy, so doesn't fully load up in the builder (yet).  SBP count may not be correct... I'll fix it as I go.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Domination Druid[/spellbookname]
[mage]Wychwood Druid[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1a08]2 x  Geyser[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x  Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNW01]2 x  Bloodspine Wall[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ02]1 x  Corrosive Orchid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1J05]1 x  Galaxxus[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ06]2 x  Nightshade Lotus[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x  Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]2 x  Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ10]2 x  Stranglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]2 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ12]1 x  Vine Tree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]2 x  Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c07]1 x  Cervere, The Forest Shadow[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Rajah, Jungle's Talon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC10]2 x  Raptor Vine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC21]4 x  Thornlasher[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]3 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC20]3 x  Vine Snapper[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNE01]1 x  Barkskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]1 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]2 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]2 x  Panther Stealth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Tangleroot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e38]1 x  Teleport Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E04]2 x  V'Tar Force Sentry[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Wolf Fury[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ04]1 x  Druid's Leaf Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNI02]2 x  Burst of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]2 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]1 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]3 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI04]1 x  Force Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i23]2 x  Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNI04]1 x  Renewing Rain[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

The idea is to plant Thornlashers in zones adjacent to orbs to draw enemy creatures away, while planting Vine Snappers in zones with orbs to Devour the Sslaks, then start guarding. Falcons are basically there to tag orbs (and Panther Stealth helps with that). Ditto for Cervere and/or Rajah, although they can also help deal with enemy creatures.  Elusiveness is not to be underestimated in Domination!!   Force Push/Wave, Nightshade Lotus, Teleport Trap, Tangle/Stranglevines, V'tar Force Sentry, Surging Wave, etc, help with positional control. Oh, and Tangleroot is a nasty "curse" to be played when an opponent thinks she can finish off a Sslak and tag an orb (similar to [mwcard=MWSTX2FFE05] Fumble[/mwcard] but 1 sbp and a "plant" = cheap with Leaf Ring).

I considered [mwcard=MW1C13] Fellella, Pixie Familiar[/mwcard] for action efficiency, but she's so mana expensive that it delays the opening - and thus scoring that all-important first orb - by at least a round.  If you have ideas for how to get her out early enough to be useful, please let me know. And I used to run [mwcard=MW1J11] Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard] (and could add [mwcard=MWBG1E02] Plagued[/mwcard]) since it can really ruin a Beastmaster or Warlord swarm (not to mention any remaining Sslaks) while having little to no effect on my plant creatures/conjurations, but now that I'm running my own Thunderrift Falcons (among other creatures that lack Regenerate), I decided to drop it.

Thoughts?

[Biblofilter]

I´ve only played 2 or 3 Domination games, so I'm pretty new to it.

Domination games seems to last only ~10 rounds.

So I think you should build your book for a much faster game than normal. No time to use Fellella.

Here's my suggestions:

Attack

Change Geyser for Acid Balls

You might add a lot of attack spells.

Conjurations:
Remove Mana Flowers and maybe HoB

Nightshade Lotus might be real good, you might add a couple.

I think id take 6 Tanglevines rather than 2 Stranglevine/2 Tanglevine

Eterian Lifetree might be worth it.

Add more Walls

Creatures:
Well I would only go with 1 Big. Im not sure you need fast/elusive as much as more dice - like Bridge Troll or Grizzly (Togorah?? or even Guard Dog??) You should be able to get rid of guards with Tanglevines.

You might look into more cheap creatures Feral Bobcat or the Butterfly. Both have defences and you need actions to turn orbs on/off. And level 1 creatures can run through WoT and act.

Enchantment:
Nope.

Keep Barkskin and the V´Tar Supression Orbs.
Teleport Trap and the like might actually win games for you.

Equipment:
Id add a Mage Wand and cut the enchanter's ring and maybe the leaf ring also.

Incantations:
Remove renewing rain
might add Teleports, Force Push, Resolve and Force Wave

and most important add a V´Tar suppression, you might get behind in the V´Tar race and try to prolong casting V´Tar suppression on a mage wand (so a couple of nullifies/Enc transf+Nullify might also fit in)

With your rooted plants, i´m thinking Force Wave and WoT might be a really good idea on a war zone, especially if he's not running level 1 creatures.

[iNano78]

First, note this is mainly for 3-4 player matches, but perhaps the occasional one-on-one. 

I took out Acid Balls because I felt Corrosive Orchid does something similar and is reuseable. In fact, I used to have Acid Balls and no Orchids, then switched around the counts as that also allowed me to save on Dissolves (since Orchids cover this role as well).  Besides Sslaks, I don't intend to kill a lot of mid-range armoured creatures, so Corrode isn't as important as in Arena. 

I've found Nightshade Lotus very good, so I increased the count from 1 to 3, but then dropped it back down to 2 to save points for other things.  I could see going back up to 3 of them though, if I save points elsewhere.

Good point about Stranglevines.  No need for them if I'm not planning on killing things. A couple more Tanglevines fills the same function but saves me a couple sbp.

Etherian Lifetree is not included because I find I do need to take out opposing Goblins/Foxes/Lynx/Falcons, and giving them extra hit points is kind of counterproductive.

Our Domination matches have shown that guarding and Elusiveness (to counter guarding) is incredibly powerful regarding disabling orbs and/or stealing them at the end of a given round.  Don't underestimate the power of Elusiveness!! (Slaknir might be the best card in all of Domination)  If I were to add more cheap creatures, I'd probably max out the Falcon count given they have a natural pseudo-elusiveness (at least with regards to avoiding Hindered from non-fliers) and can swoop in to slap orbs.  Panther Stealth is ridiculously cheap, so it's easy to make them truly Elusive when necessary to get around guards. I hadn't decided between the two cats, so included both for now and I'll see whether or not I have sufficient mana for Cervere and/or miss having Fast built-in to Rajah.

Wall attacks get reused via Thornlashers and various other push effects (except V'tar Force Sentry, sadly).  I could add another Bloodspine or two, since I find they work nicely on level 1 creatures and the Thornlashers can see through them.

Renewing Rain is mainly to counter the local Warlock.  Druid doesn't like it when all her plants are on fire. But if I never play it (and I haven't yet), it will be first to go.

Neat idea about V'tar Suppression.  Seems like something someone would use with a "kill the other mages" strategy, but I can see how it could also be used to catch up in the V'tar race. I'll definitely consider it if I can justify the cost (4 sbp to a Druid).

[iNano78]

I cheated above, as I forgot Druid pays triple for War (e.g. Galaxxus costs 6). Here's an update:

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Domination Druid v1.1[/spellbookname]
[mage]Wychwood Druid[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNA01]1 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a08]1 x  Geyser[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x  Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNW01]4 x  Bloodspine Wall[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ02]1 x  Corrosive Orchid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1J05]1 x  Galaxxus[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ06]3 x  Nightshade Lotus[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x  Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j13]1 x  Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]4 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ12]1 x  Vine Tree[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w04]1 x  Wall of Thorns[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC06]Kralathor, The Devourer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Rajah, Jungle's Talon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC10]2 x  Raptor Vine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC21]4 x  Thornlasher[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c37]4 x  Thunderift Falcon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC20]3 x  Vine Snapper[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNE01]1 x  Barkskin[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x  Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]1 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e05]1 x  Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE06]2 x  Lion Savagery[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]2 x  Panther Stealth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Tangleroot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e38]1 x  Teleport Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E04]2 x  V'Tar Force Sentry[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Wolf Fury[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ04]1 x  Druid's Leaf Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNI02]2 x  Burst of Thorns[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]2 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]1 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]3 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI04]1 x  Force Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i23]2 x  Rouse the Beast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

R1 - 19: Vine token (0); Leaf Ring (2); move + Vine Tree (8)
R2 - 19: Vine tokens (1); Raptor Vine in orb zone (9-1); Harmonize on Vine Tree (4); move + Mana Flower (4)
R3 - 13: Vine token (0); Vine Snapper in orb zone (7-2); Rouse the Beast on Snapper (2); move + slap the orb after Snapper + Raptor kill the Sslak
R4 - 17: Vine tokens (1); Vine Snapper in next orb zone (7-2); uproot Raptor Vine (1) (or Teleport him to next orb); Galaxxus (8); move + Rouse the Beast on Snapper (2)
R5+ - Defend the orbs and start with an assortment of trickery; e.g. Tangleroot, or Etherian Lifetree (which enhances other Sslaks, too), or leave a Teleport Trap behind as I move creatures on to the next orb, or start dropping Thornlashers and Bloodspine Walls, or send Stealth Falcons around to disable/steal orbs, or Force Push + Tanglevine, etc.